


so sweet and so soft

by somehowunbroken



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: It's too early in the morning for this, but here Dylan is, getting stared at over a mug of coffee by John Tavares.
Relationships: Mitch Marner/Dylan Strome
Comments: 22
Kudos: 237
Collections: The Dylan Strome Celebration 2020





	so sweet and so soft

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eafay70](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/gifts).



> hi eafay!!! i hope you like this silly soft thing :)

One of the great things about Ryan having his own house that's so close to their parents' house is that he never cares if Dylan crashes in one of his spare rooms, and it's easy to decide where he wants to sleep for the night about half an hour before he wants to be in bed.

The downside, of course, is that very occasionally Dylan will walk into the kitchen in the morning and just… find John Tavares there.

"Uh," he says, stopping short. "Hi?"

"Hi," JT says, waving a mug of coffee at him. "I made a pot. Help yourself."

"Uh," Dylan says again. Mornings really aren't his thing and he's not ashamed to admit it. "Sure?"

JT just sips his coffee, and Dylan tries not to feel like he's being judged as he pours a mug half full of coffee and half full of Syd's nice creamer. Whatever. If JT's here to chirp him about his early morning coffee choices, then Dylan's not going to tell him about the baby spit-up stain on his shirt collar, and that's just how it's going to go.

"How've you been?" JT asks as Dylan sits down. "How's Chicago?"

Dylan smiles. "Awesome," he says. This, at least, he can talk about pre-coffee. "Playing with Brinksy again is awesome. I finally feel like I'm getting my feet under me."

"That's really great to hear," JT says, smiling at him. "And… everything else?"

"It's good," Dylan says, raising both eyebrows and taking a sip of coffee. It JT's going to be vague, then Dylan's going to be vague right back.

"Cool, good," JT says, nodding. "So, you and Mitch."

Dylan spits his coffee back into the mug.

"Look, as his captain," JT starts, as if Dylan had had any sort of normal reaction to that, as if he'd said something that was worth having a normal reaction to.

"Let me just," Dylan says, grabbing for one of the napkins in the little napkin holder thing Syd keeps in the middle of the table. He wipes at his face, then the table beneath him just for good measure, then tries to fold the kind of gross napkin up just for something to do that isn't looking up at JT.

JT, the asshole, waits him out.

"So, Mitch," he says calmly when Dylan finally glances up again.

"Let me just, like, stop you there," Dylan tries.

JT gives him a flat look. To be fair, that's kind of just his face, but Dylan can sense the intent. "I know you're a good guy, Dylan, and I know I don't have to tell you to treat him right—"

Dylan spreads his hands. "Yet here you are, in the kitchen at nine on a Thursday morning."

"—but, you know, I'm saying it anyway," JT goes on. Dylan gets why he's the captain, if he's this good at just talking over people. "He's important to a lot of people."

"Wait," Dylan says. "Wait. Is this a shovel talk?"

JT doesn't break eye contact as he lifts his coffee mug, takes a sip, and sets it back down.

"Right," Dylan says. "I'm gonna, uh. Go? Yeah. Good talk, man."

He stands and grabs his coffee, beating a quick retreat back up to the bedroom that's his-but-not-really-his. He doesn't remember that he backwashed into the mug until he's halfway up the stairs, but that's far too late to go back down and make a new one, so he just keeps going. His phone is on the nightstand where he left it, and it dings softly as he looks at it.

He's missed... several messages, he sees as he trades it for the mug. It dings again twice more, and Dylan grins without even meaning to as he sees Mitch's name flash across the display.

It's easier to just call than try to catch up with the honestly frightening number of texts he's missed, so Dylan swipes his phone open and hits Mitch's contact. It only rings once before Mitch picks up. "So I just had a very weird phone call," he starts.

Dylan snorts. "Is it weirder than me walking into Ryan's kitchen to find your captain waiting for me to get up so we could talk?"

"Yes," Mitch sys firmly. "That happens to you, like, twice a week, babe."

"Okay, fair," Dylan concedes. "You tell me yours, then I'll tell you mine."

"Alex DeBrincat called me and told me he'd spear me in the nuts if I broke your heart," Mitch says without hesitating.

"He," Dylan says, faltering slightly. "He what?"

"Called me," Mitch repeats. "Like that's a thing we do. Like he even has my phone number."

"To threaten to spear you in the nuts," Dylan says. "Well, that's gonna make my news a little less unique. There was less nut-spearing threatened, but somehow I'm actually more scared of JT being vague about what would happen to me if _I_ broke _your_ heart."

"They'd never find your body," Mitch says immediately. "Sorry, babe, but it's true."

"It for sure is," Dylan agrees. "Also, watch your nuts. Brinksy's little, but he's mean."

"How about I just don't break your heart?" Mitch says. "And you don't break mine, and it'll all be good."

"I think I can handle that, yeah," Dylan says, smiling.

Mitch laughs. "Oh good. Then we agree."

"Shocking, I know," Dylan says. It's kind of ridiculous, how much he enjoys moments like these with Mitch: the two of them going back and forth, comfortable enough with each other by now that the conversation flows easily.

Mitch hums after a moment. "I can't believe the timing, honestly. Who calls someone this early on a Thursday morning? And for JT to know you were at Ryan's and show up there at the same time…"

"Oh my god," Dylan says as the lightbulb goes off. "They _coordinated_ this. I told Brinksy last night that I was crashing here."

"How did they even..." Mitch starts, and then they both groan and say _Davo_ at the same time.

"I'm gonna throttle him," Dylan mutters.

Mitch hums. "Wait, though," he says. "Isn't he dating someone on his team? Nuge?"

"Yeah," Dylan says, starting to smile. "What, you think we should return the favour?"

"Those who intimidate together stay together," Mitch says cheerily, and Dylan laughs until Mitch is laughing with him, and—

Yeah, okay. This was one of the more awkward mornings tha Dylan's had in awhile, and he's pretty sure Mitch would say the same about his morning, but he'll take it if it means he and Mitch get to have this.


End file.
